SEPA 18/12

Agency Board Meeting 29 May 2012

Board Report Number: SEPA 18/12

Chief Executive’s Report

Summary: This paper highlights areas of environmental achievement and concern, enforcement action, and major partnership activities, as well as business related issues in respect of corporate performance and activity, since the Board meeting on 17 April 2012.

Risks: N/A

Financial N/A Implications:

Staffing N/A Implications:

Environmental and N/A Carbon Impact:

Purpose of the For information report:

Report Author: James Curran, Chief Executive Karen Cochrane, Executive Officer

Appendices: None

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Chief Executive’s Report

INTRODUCTION

In these recent days of economic and meteorological gloom it’s always useful to have an injection of youthful enthusiasm – and that was certainly generously supplied by a schools event held by the SEWeb project partners. Seventeen S2 students from Stirling High School had been set the task of helping to answer the question ‘what could SEWeb do to help young people enjoy, understand, protect and improve ’s environment?’ Space Unlimited, a charitable enterprise, were contracted to facilitate the work; they were specifically chosen because they work with young people in a collaborative way to help them take ownership and leadership of a challenge, building skills and confidence. After setting the original question to be answered, the SEWeb partners stepped back and the young people, under the guidance of Space Unlimited, organised themselves, decided what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. A drop-in session was held on 16 May at SEPA’s Bremner House office in Stirling to showcase the results of the young peoples’ work. Their ideas, honest criticisms, suggestions and sheer confidence and enthusiasm were inspirational, and they, in turn, were very positive about their experience and felt that they had made contributions that were genuinely being listened to. The next steps to take this forward are to secure commitment from SEWeb partners to help make the ideas suggested by young people happen, and that they themselves are involved in this process.

But there’s been lots more to be enthusiastic about since my last report.

For example, I was invited by the Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) to attend the annual SWA Members Day in Edinburgh, and to address a popular breakout session on the subject of Better Environmental Regulation (BER). I was ably supported by Andy Rosie, our Head of Operations North and sector lead for SWA, and the discussions on how to develop the BER model were fascinating. The whole morning was enjoyable and provided an excellent opportunity to meet face to face with many SWA members, and get a real insight into their industry and thoughts on how our organisations can continue to strengthen an already good working relationship. The SWA environmental strategy is an exemplar of an industry sector striving to be a champion and going beyond regulation. Unfortunately I had to leave before any of the hospitality on offer.

As David mentioned, our work on Better Environmental Regulation is moving swiftly forward. Calum MacDonald and his team are continuing to drive this initiative internally, and a seminar session to update Board members on progress is planned for the morning of 29 May. The whole Agency Management Team (AMT) joined in a creative day-long workshop with Scottish Government colleagues looking at possible sustainable funding models for the Agency – simplifying from the current 14 charging schemes and providing much better flexibility in deployment of our resources. The good news is that there was strong consensus on many important issues.

At any one time we often view particular events through a prism and, at the moment, that prism for me continues to be Team Scotland and the associated delivery of multiple benefits.

So when Graeme Dickson, Director-General Enterprise, Environment & Digital, on behalf of Scottish Government Ministers, invited me to join the Scottish Government Emissions Reduction Programme Board, as an external representative to provide an independent perspective on the challenges faced by the Board, I was keen to hold an internal SEPA workshop on climate change mitigation. A short-list of 18 opportunities was created, and foremost was perhaps the preservation and restoration of Scotland’s iconic peatlands and heather moorlands. These act as huge sinks and stores of carbon but also host biodiversity, attract visitors from around the world, and retain water to reduce flooding and erosion.

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Multiple benefits by the bucketful.

In terms of Team Scotland, and as David noted in his report, we have jointly met with various bodies since the last Board meeting in April, including, for example, NFUS and Edinburgh University. With Calum Macdonald, I met with senior managers of Scottish Power and learnt a lot about the complexity of their decisions on future investment. A meeting with Ordnance Survey reviewed joint efforts to create new products of benefit to all Scotland, and a meeting between ourselves, SNH and Marine Scotland consolidated joint approaches on planning and compliance. We also hosted an RS awareness event in Parliament and the EU Environment policy event in Dynamic Earth – specifically to create a Scotland-wide response to the European Commission. In addition, I met Russell Hampton, Director of BTCV. He is as enthusiastic about Citizen Science as we are; the issue is finding the initial joint resource to get the momentum going.

Agency Management Team (AMT)

AMT was pleased to host a visit by the Permanent Secretary, Sir Peter Housden, who came to Stirling on 23 April and spent more than 2 hours with us, talking about what he felt are the key challenges facing the public sector in Scotland, and we took the opportunity of updating him on the work of our change programmes. He also discussed the role of public sector Boards and we discussed the interactive induction session which we were all involved in at Riccarton in April. He seemed really interested in this and we have agreed to let him know when we arrange the next session, with a view to having him or some of his DGs join us - I’ll keep you posted.

Our Deputy Chairman, Bob Downes, also joined the AMT in setting out some early thoughts and challenges as we begin to develop an approach to encourage new ways of working throughout the Agency. Much more will follow on this!

1. THE ENVIRONMENT

1.1 Ecology

Rapid Assessment Technique (RAT) Following successful development work and a pilot network in 2011, a new river invertebrate RAT is now “live” for 2012. This technique will allow approximately 500 samples to be taken by Ecology in 2012. The method, which involves rapid analysis in the field, has been fully calibrated against the more time consuming laboratory- based classification and allows us to highlight rapidly where there may be potential issues, or, indeed, improvements. It also gives us the opportunity to assess the condition of many smaller water bodies which we would not otherwise visit.

Diverting our resources from the intensive laboratory work into this network means we are far more flexible in our approach and can better target known issues and potential problems, and also uncover previously unrecognised problems. Ecology staff are continuing to develop rapid assessment techniques for other biological elements which will enable us to detect an even wider range of impacts.

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River Invertebrate Classification Tool (RICT) SEPA now supports the web site which delivers all RICT classifications for the Water Framework Directive1. The service is provided to all UK environment agencies and other users world-wide.

1.2 Flood Risk Management

Floodline award The Drum Marketing Awards reward and celebrate the UK’s most effective marketing strategies. The results were announced at an annual awards ceremony which took place in May 2012 in London.

The Floodline launch campaign won the New Product/Service Launch Strategy of the Year Award with the entry submitted through our creative production partner Origin, who had worked alongside us in tandem with another supplier partner, Allied Publicity Services. Rather than focus on the negatives of flooding, Origin’s creative development focused on the positive aspects of being prepared and taking preventative action. To drive users to web registration, a multi-channel approach was implemented, using direct mail, online media and press coverage to ensure that this message really hit home. This multi-faceted campaign resulted in 11,000 people registering by the end of July, exceeding the September target of 8,000.

Pilot catchments Discussions are ongoing with the Scottish Government regarding a programme of pilot projects to explore the potential mutual benefits of joint river restoration and flood management projects, as well as providing increased support for water framework directive restoration and diffuse pollution work. A steering group has been set up to oversee implementation and includes representation from Land, River Basin Management Planning (RBMP), Flood Risk Management Planning Units, Environmental Quality and Scottish Government representation. The group is currently focussing on catchment selection criteria and further updates will be provided at key stages.

1.3 Radioactive substances

Dounreay Low Level Waste Facility The draft Radioactive Substances Act (RSA) Authorisation and accompanying decision document have been peer reviewed internally and will be amended to reflect the review comments, as appropriate, prior to release for consultation. Given that this is not a licensed nuclear site, but will be operated by Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) and receive waste from the decommissioning of the Dounreay licensed site, the scope of the consultation remains to be defined by the project board. In particular, the length of the consultation period and the scope of the consultees to be formally invited to comment need to be agreed.

SEPA has consulted informally on the Authorisation and the non-technical summary of the decision document with the residents of Buldoo, the nearest habitation to the Dounreay site. The residents of Buldoo had no comments relating to the authorisation or the regulation of the disposal facility under RSA.

DSRL's contractors have commenced excavation of the phase 1 vault space and, in accordance with the assumptions in their safety case, SEPA will receive and approve

1 Water Framework Directive in Scotland (WFD) was introduced in 2000 to establish systems to manage the water environment and was transposed into Scots Law in 2003 via the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003. 4 SEPA 18/12

a new iteration of DSRL's environmental safety case in 2013 prior to the emplacement of waste in the phase 1 vaults.

Dalgety Bay On 24 April SEPA published the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) final investigation plan for Dalgety Bay which includes the development of remediation options. The plan will allow, by the end of May 2013, for SEPA to be in full possession of all technical issues, including dumping areas and the distribution of the hazard posed by radioactive contamination, together with ownership history and, therefore, the responsible party or parties. Following conclusion of that work SEPA will expect remediation action to follow urgently.

Work as part of that plan has commenced and includes the deployment of ground penetrating radar. During the entire period of investigation the MoD has undertaken to provide monthly surveys of the beach to ensure that the public is protected whilst remediation options are being developed.

1.4 Zero Waste Regulations

On 9 May, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 were passed by the Scottish Parliament and these will have a significant impact in Scotland in supporting the delivery of ambitious zero waste targets. National Operations Waste Unit staff played a key role in the production and delivery of the Zero Waste Regulations, and were responsible for various aspects of the project, including: writing the consultation on the Zero Waste Regulations on behalf of Scottish Government; providing advice and support throughout the consultation and drafting periods to get a Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) before Parliament; drafting the Duty of Care Code of Practice on behalf of Scottish Government to implement the new Regulations; and drafting new recycling guidance for Local Authorities on behalf of Scottish Government.

1.5 Sewer Network Licences2

All Sewer Network Licences (SNLs) (over 350 covering over 3500 assets) have been issued to Scottish Water which means that for the first time SEPA can take a holistic approach to the sewer network. Scottish Water has reported that 80% of their maintenance work within the sewer network is reactive and this exerts a significant workload on our Operations staff. The licences now require Scottish Water to take a pro-active approach to reducing the number of spills and help address this workload issue, as well as improving water quality and amenity value. While there remain some issues to resolve with Scottish Water, this is a huge step forward. The project has involved cross-directorate working with National Water Unit and Regional Ops staff, in particular from Finance and Registry.

1.6 Environmental incidents

Fire at end of life vehicle site in Inverness SEPA was notified of a major fire at a site in Inverness early on 27 March. Hebrides and Central Ops team attended and were in close liaison with our Air Hazards Advisors regarding the need to mobilise to attend the incident. Health Protection Scotland (HPS) were also involved in accordance with our AHERS process

2 A sewer network licence consists of all Scottish Water’s assets upstream of the entry into a Sewage Treatment Works (STW). Primarily these are combined sewer overflows (designed to operate intermittently when the sewer system is full) and emergency overflows at sewage pumping stations (due to mechanical or electrical failure discharge to a watercourse to prevent sewage flooding properties).

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and, in consultation/agreement with them, our Field Response Team (FRT) was deployed to Inverness. However after monitoring air quality for a period of about four hours, and as our assessment of the data indicated no major cause for concern, SEPA agreed with HPS to close our AHERS response and stand-down the FRT.

The Incident Commander from Highlands & Island Fire and Rescue Service expressed his gratitude to SEPA for attending the incident so quickly and being available to answer any questions that arose regarding protection of the environment. He also complimented the staff involved for their skill, expertise and commitment in assisting the incident to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

2. PARTNERSHIP WORKING

2.1 River Awe flow regime

The River Awe in Argyll has been affected by a hydro scheme for over 50 years. During this period the flow regime, compensation flows and release of freshets3 had been agreed between the operator, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), and riparian owners. In 2010, concerns were raised about the availability of sufficient flows to allow downstream passage of smolts. SEPA agreed to chair an informal working group made up of representatives from SSE, Argyll District Salmon Fisheries Board, Argyll Fisheries Trust and local proprietors, to examine the current flow regime and identify an improved flow pattern.

The key criterion set out by SEPA was that any changes should be based on the best evidence available. Consequently, the Argyll Fisheries Trust, with help from SSE, collected evidence of spawning patterns in the river, which was correlated with flow data from SSE. Following extensive negotiations, an agreement was reached on a new flow regime to operate from 1 April. A monitoring programme will evaluate the effectiveness of the new regime and allow further evidence-based changes in subsequent years. It is hoped that this collaborative approach will serve as an example for other such projects in the future.

2.2 Restoration Fund

SEPA’s River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) Unit has coordinated the delivery of the Restoration Fund which provided £1.2million of funding for projects to deliver improvements to the water environment in 2011/12. The projects included removing barriers to fish migration, invasive non native species control and scoping studies for improving the physical habitats provided by beds, banks and shores across Scotland.

2.3 UK Technical Advisory Group Standards

The use of environmental standards (biological, chemical, river flow or water levels) is important to delivering the objectives of the Water Framework Directive as it focuses on areas of improvement and protection. The UK Technical Advisory Group for the Water Framework Directive (UKTAG) is made up of experts from UK environment and conservation agencies and makes recommendations to government administrations. UKTAG recently issued a consultation “Updated Recommendations on Environmental Standards” which are proposed for application for the 2nd RBMP cycle (2015-21). SEPA staff from both Operations and Science & Strategy have led or contributed to the technical work behind the recommendations.

3 Freshet: intermittent release of water from an impoundment. 6 SEPA 18/12

2.4 Scottish Biodiversity 2020: Futures Check

SEPA facilitated a Futures Workshop for the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Unit to test the robustness of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2020 against potential futures. The workshop illustrated the variability of the future and how the strategy will need to respond. This opportunity arose through SEPA’s membership of the Project Board for the Biodiversity Strategy Review.

2.5 CAMERAS Conference

A number of Science & Strategy staff attended the annual CAMERAS (Co-ordinated Agenda for Marine, Environment and Rural Affairs Science) conference on “Maximising Our Collective Impact”, which SEPA helped to design and co-ordinate. The conference was opened by the Permanent Secretary, Sir Peter Housden, and SEPA staff gave two presentations on experience of partnership with The Marine Atlas and Scotland’s Environment Web. The event was well attended and provided a good opportunity for networking between staff from the various CAMERAS organisations.

2.6 Strathclyde Loch - Commonwealth Games 2014 and WFD restoration

The Sniffer4 project on scoping improvement and management options for Strathclyde Loch has now commenced, with the invitation to tenders issued to potential consultants. The project technical steering group will be chaired by Sniffer with SEPA as technical lead and group members together with key representatives from North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Government, Glasgow 2014, and Scottish Water, with Glasgow Scientific Services in correspondence.

The key aims of the project are to develop costed options to: i improve the water quality in time for the Commonwealth Games; i improve the ecological condition of the loch; and i deliver long-term improvements to benefit the overall recreational value of the loch.

2.7 Environment Agency visit

SEPA hosted representatives of the Environment Agency’s Welsh team to discuss in detail each organisation’s approach to regulating Hydropower. The visit followed on from a successful visit by members of the National Water & Land Unit to meet the EA in Cardiff. The 2 days were hugely beneficial for both SEPA and EA staff; the EA staff seemed particularly impressed by SEPA’s approach, particularly the National Water Unit, and have submitted a paper to their own Directors recommending a model based upon the work of SEPA.

2.8 Waste National Day of Action

In March, staff from Operations participated in an initiative targeting waste carriers and waste management sites as part of a multi-agency day of action to tackle the increasing problem of metal theft in Scotland. The action was led by Scottish police forces and the British Transport Police, with a large number of both public and private organisations taking part in the operation.

As Scotland's environmental regulator, SEPA's involvement in the initiative, known as 'Operation Fern', was to ensure compliance with all aspects of environmental

4 Sniffer: Previously Scotland & Northern Ireland Forum for Environment Research 7 SEPA 18/12

legislation with regard to the transportation of waste metal and its processing. This included possession of appropriate Waste Carriers Registrations, Scrap Metal Dealers licensing/exemptions and delivering the expected duty of care.

During the day of action (on 15 March), 128 vehicles known to transport controlled waste were targeted by SEPA. It was discovered that 50% of the vehicles carrying controlled waste at the time of being stopped were not registered waste carriers. Officials also found that over 50% of the carriers, both registered and non-registered, were not delivering the necessary duty of care. As well as the activity around carriers, SEPA officers also visited 19 waste management sites to measure the level of compliance across a range of operators. After the visits, it was concluded that the majority of sites were complying with the necessary regulations, with only one site found to be in breach of its licence.

2.9 Transport Scotland Accident Summit, Glasgow

SEPA staff also participated in an Incident Management Summit in Glasgow in March, which was arranged by Transport Scotland at the request of, and attended by, the Transport Minister, Keith Brown. The event was primarily tasked with reducing the incident management timeline at fatal/serious incidents on the trunk road network. The day was structured around a number of interactive workshops, and a wide range of stakeholders at strategic and operational level were invited including Police, Fire & Rescue and the private companies maintaining the roads network.

2.10 European engagement

Pauline Lang (Ecologist, East Kilbride) is due to attend an international conference in Olsztyn, Poland (17-20 May) organised by the Polish Phycological Society. A theme of the conference is the use of algae in ecological status assessment and Pauline will be presenting a paper which showcases our use of river diatoms to assess ecological quality illustrated by a case study on the River Clyde. She will also present a poster on species of planktonic algae found during SEPA surveys which have not previously been recorded in Scottish lochs.

Mike Cranston (Flood Forecasting and Warning Manager) attended the Annual Assembly of Geoscientists in Europe (EGU) in Vienna, which attracted over 10,000 delegates and included two main sessions on Natural Hazards and Hydrological Sciences. The Hydrological Sciences session has grown significantly over the past 10 years, from being a small group session to a collection of 12 thematic areas including hydrological forecasting. Mike presented a paper on ‘Using ensemble rainfall predictions in a countrywide flood forecasting model in Scotland’.

2.11 Enforcement action

Details of other successful enforcement actions since the last Board meeting can be found on the SEPA website here.

3. SEPA Business

3.1 Performance & Quality Management

Corporate Plan and AOP As noted in the Chairman’s report, following approval by the Agency Board and the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, our Corporate Plan 2012-2017 and Annual Operating Plan 2012-2013 were published on our website on 4 May 2012.

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Quality Management SEPA has three quality and environmental management standards: i Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) audits our performance against the standards ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environmental); i The Accreditation Service (UKAS) audits the performance of nominated activities in our laboratories against ISO 17025 (testing and calibration).

As a result of a recent surveillance visit from LRQA, our certifications to ISO 9001 and 14001 have been maintained. A number of the actions required following their previous visits have been closed, progress with others has been noted and several new minor actions have been raised which will be taken forward with relevant areas of the business. UKAS will conduct their next audit of the laboratory activities during May and June.

Management Review meetings are being held in each directorate and with the AMT to identify ways to improve our business management system. The new approach to internal audit, designed to improve delivery of the audit programme and the organisation’s learning from audit findings, has started. Reporting against new corporate targets for the management of actions, audits and document reviews will begin this month.

Transformational Change update While the transformational change programmes continue to progress, the AMT is considering proposals for one single programme. The implementation of a single change programme is likely to impact on the existing change programmes – Better Regulation, Developing Our People and Improving Business Systems and Processes. As such, a revised performance reporting process will be implemented for future updates.

Significant developments for the change programmes to date are:

Developing Our People • Work is underway on a draft corporate action plan following the collation of the results of the staff survey, the comments received from the two open survey questions and the staff feedback sessions. The action plan is largely based on: y people (mainly career development; learning and development; effective management of poor performance); y communications (including AMT and directorate management team communication; awareness of other staff and team roles; feeding back survey results and progress); and y ways of working (including flexible working; project based working)

• Once approved, the action plan will be published for all staff and actions taken forward by the responsible business unit. Regular performance reporting will be provided to the AMT and the Agency Board.

Better Regulation • As noted in the Chairman’s report, the joint Scottish Government/SEPA consultation on legislative proposals to support the implementation of Better Environmental Regulation was launched on 4 May.

• Good progress has been made with the Sustainable Funding Model Project with initial work allocated and a session on option generation and assessment

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undertaken. Consideration is also being given to communications, engagement and stakeholder analysis.

Improving Business Systems and Processes • The business process mapping project (approved by the Corporate Management Team in 2011) is progressing with a project manager and business analyst having been appointed. Work is underway on developing the governance and communication of the project, as well as the mechanism for continuous improvement.

• The Project Initiation Document and the Business Case for Better Information, formerly e-records, was approved by the Programme Board in April. The project aims to ensure that all staff have easy access to electronic information (wherever they are) and that this information is up to date, relevant and secure. Work will now be undertaken to establish a project team and formal reporting mechanisms and development of the engagement protocol continues.

Freedom of Information (FoI) Between 27 March and 8 May, 43 requests were formally logged and 46 requests were completed. One Formal Review was logged and two were completed during the reporting period. Additional information was released as a result of one of the Formal Reviews. The second Formal Review related to content of a Fees Notice issued under SEPA’s Charging Policy.

Requests relating to water issues, including fish farms, accounted for 45% of the requests received during the reporting period.

The new Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, took office on 1 May, succeeding Kevin Dunion who had served two terms of office.

Customer Service Complaints During the reporting period, one Stage 1 and seven Stage 2 Customer Service Complaints were logged.

After the completion of an investigation, responses were sent to 17 complainants who had complained about SEPA’s regulation of a waste issue at Ayr Docks. The complaint was upheld in respect of one of the two grounds for complaint. Seven of the complainants have now sought a Stage 2 Formal Review, which is currently ongoing.

A Stage 2 investigation was also completed and it was determined that the findings of the Stage 1 complaint were upheld.

During the reporting period, SEPA has not been notified of any new referrals made to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) and there are no investigations ongoing.

3.2 Organisational Development (OD)

HR: Headcount at 1 May was 1203 (1137.72 FTE). This represents a decrease from 1247 in February (FTE 1177.36) and 1211 (1145.59) in March. The number of agency staff used to support short term projects has reduced from 29 in both February and March to 20 in May.

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SEPA recognises the UNISON Trade Union for collective bargaining. The Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee (JNCC), which is made up of representatives from UNISON and management, meets on a monthly basis and provides an opportunity to consult, negotiate and share information with UNISON. The format and frequency of JNCC meetings has recently been reviewed and more information is now published on The Hub intranet page to help staff understand the role of JNCC and to give them access to the meeting schedule, extracts from minutes etc.

SEPA and UNISON enjoy a positive working relationship and there will always be a range of internal and external factors which impact on the employee relations climate. One of the current external factors is the ongoing pay freeze across the public sector. SEPA's pay remit for 2012-13 was approved by Scottish Government in April and a formal pay offer was made by management to Unison. SEPA must operate within the Public Sector Pay Policy guidelines (2012-13) and this allows for very little flexibility in terms of the pay offer. UNISON is currently in discussion with its members as to whether or not they wish to accept the offer.

The organisation established a Steering & Implementation Board (JE SIB) in 2005, consisting of equal representation from SEPA management and UNISON, to oversee the implementation of the job evaluation scheme. Negotiations are ongoing regarding the future care and maintenance of the scheme, as a result of which posts cannot currently be evaluated and changes to current organisational structure involving new roles are also on hold. Management is working closely with UNISON to ensure that these issues are resolved as quickly as possible.

Health & Safety: The Health & Safety function have highlighted the potential benefits for SEPA in joining a Scottish Government initiative called Healthy Working Lives (HWL). The initiative allows organisations to work towards Bronze, Silver and Gold awards which recognise good practice in health and safety and employee wellbeing. The initiative drives improvements as well as recognising good practice, and the potential benefits for SEPA include a healthier, more motivated workforce with improvements in performance and morale; lower levels of sickness absence; and lower staff turnover. The benefits for employees include improved access to health information at work including practical tips and advice on how to stay healthy. This is likely to lead to improved morale and motivation and improve the visibility of health and safety within the organisation.

Health and safety inspections have now been carried out in six offices and on the SEPA vessel (Sir John Murray). In offices the most common issue of concern is poor housekeeping, in particular the storage of paperwork and equipment. All inspections are followed up by a Management Brief which identifies timescales, leads and responsibilities. There have been no reportable incidents under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

Learning & Development (L&D): The framework for overall formal performance management is our revised Performance Appraisal system which requires 75% of relevant staff appraisals to be completed and submitted to HR@SEPA by the end of May and 95% by the end of June. Directorates have set targets related to reducing the level of competencies not yet met and work continues to improve the take up of My Development the Agresso system designed to support our learning and development activities.

L&D continues its planned programme of Management Development modules and 58% of SEPA managers are progressing through the coaching programme. To date, 102 SEPA managers have volunteered for the Coaching programme of which 24 have completed all three Fast Track (FT) coaching modules.

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3.3 Office accommodation

Angus Smith Building, Maxim 6, North Lanarkshire Category A Works: The Landlord’s contractor is progressing well with the Category A works and completion is expected by end of May.

Category B Works: The design stage E report was approved by the Project 2 Board and Programme Board in March and tenders were issued based on this layout. A subsequent proposal was approved to work up a design to open up meeting room/office/social spaces on the upper floors. Tenders were received from 4 tenderers on 23 April based on Stage E layout and initial assessments are in progress.

Proposals are being designed to minimise vibrations for sensitive equipment in laboratory areas and upon agreement a Tender Addendum will be issued to all 4 tenderers. This will provide confirmation of the construction period and revised tender values for the Category B Works. The programme implication of these additional designs is that site start and completion will be delayed. Confirmation of the revised programme will be available following review of the Tender Addendum but it is probable that the Category B works will not be completed until March/April 2013. Migration of staff and equipment will follow after this date.

Migration: The Migration Strategy is due from the Project 2 Board by end of June. Preparation of migration plans for staff and equipment will follow completion of the Migration Strategy. Early discussions have taken place with IS who will provide a migration plan for the Data Centre.

Graesser House, Dingwall The works to increase the capacity of parking at the Graesser House building and the Support Centre in Dingwall have been completed. The works involved the removal of the existing bloc paving and repairing the sub core prior to the formation of the new additional spaces. An overall total of 20 new spaces have been created, increasing the provision at Graesser from 34 to 48 and the Support Centre from 4 to 12. The finished works have improved both the parking provision on site and also the appearance of the office, as alterations to the grounds will allow for planting to be undertaken improving the bio diversity of the site.

3.4 Procurement

SEPA’s ranking in the Scottish Government Procurement Capability Assessment 2011: Of the 37 organisations awarded a score, SEPA was ranked in position six.

3.5 Legal

SEPA’s Corporate Solicitor had discussions with officers from the Scottish Government’s Legal Directorate about SGLD undertaking corporate legal work for SEPA. SGLD have indicated that in principle they can provide this service. Work is progressing to finalise the agreement.

3.6 Press Overview

Media coverage Between 1 and 30 April there were there were 347 articles mentioning SEPA. There were also 51 media enquiries during this time from various print, broadcast and online media.

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The biggest story during this time was the publication of the MoD’s plan for Dalgety Bay (88 articles, six of which were broadcast). Flooding also gained coverage (36 articles) between 25 and 28 April following heavy rain.

Five media releases were issued, 60% of which resulted in coverage. Two of these were prosecution releases (resulting in 14 media articles).

There were 24 articles as a direct result of proactive work by the media team, providing an advertising equivalent of £750.19. This does not include coverage of Dalgety Bay, as it has been difficult to separate articles which resulted from media releases, statements, media enquiries or media work by others.

Other stories which have gained a lot of coverage include:  Salmon and Trout Association’s release re sea bed monitoring  Results of tests on fish following the Elgin platform leak  Warehouse blaze in Glasgow

There were 15 supportive articles (48%), 322 neutral or balanced articles (49%) and 10 critical articles (3%).

Coverage was predominantly print, the majority was local coverage (109 articles) with 23 in national media. There were fewer online articles (63 articles) and these were reasonably evenly spilt between national (38) and Scottish local online sites (22). There were also 3 international pieces. There were 30 broadcast pieces (15 national, 15 local).

The word cloud below shows the most commonly used words in media articles about SEPA. The bigger the word, the more times it has been occurred.

Social media coverage SEPA’s communications team has also begun to monitor social media conversations. The chart below shows the number of mentions about SEPA (including retweets of our posts) which occurred during April.

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Spikes in news coverage were due to coverage of the Salmon and Trout Association’s media release on sea bed surveys (20 April), and the publication of the MOD’s plan for Dalgety Bay (25 April).

Twitter coverage was also high following the MoD’s report. Of the 22 tweets on 26 April which mentioned SEPA, 21 were related to flooding, particularly around the flood warning for the Elgin area.

The word cloud for social media is as follows.

4. Action

4.1 The Board is asked to note this report. Updates will be provided at the meeting.

James Curran Chief Executive 22 May 2012

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